Collecting COVID-19: Documenting the CDC Response

The COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally altered perceptions of the role of public health in our lives. In the U.S., the activities of federal and state public health agencies have dominated national conversations. Whether discussing testing, debating the use of cloth face coverings in public, or examining the work done to alleviate disease burden among minority communities, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) sits at the center of these debates.

In March 2020, the David J. Sencer CDC Museum assembled a team of archivists and curators to collect material to document CDC’s response. Since the beginning of the pandemic, CDC’s response has been entangled in the political and social aspects of the pandemic. To reflect this, the CDC Museums’ COVID-19 Collection Project team has addressed which artifacts would be considered, opening the collection to include materials that reflect the dynamic social environment in which CDC operates.